Spec help please!

chimaera · 7 Jul 2012 at 15:01

Hey all,

I'm thinking it's about time for an upgrade, i'd like to go for something that is pretty good bang for buck, normally i tend to go for mid to upper level components rather than high end, efficiency is the name of the game, i'd like a good amount of processing power without high heat output as my aircon is already costing a fortune, budget is around $500-600 (US dollars).

Current spec:

Operating System - MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU - AMD Athlon 7750 Black Edition
RAM - 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR2 @ 401MHz (5-5-5-18)
Motherboard - ASUSTeK Computer INC. M3N78-VM (AM2) 40 °C
Graphics - ATI Radeon HD 4770 (Sapphire/PCPartner) 43 °C
Hard Drives
73GB Western Digital WDC WD740GD-00FLA0 ATA Device (SATA) 32 °C
488GB Seagate ST3500418AS ATA Device (SATA)
PSU - Antec EA500W

I have a Corsair H60 cooler so i'm thinking of switching to intel 1155, maybe an IB i5-3450 and Biostar TZ77B (definitely want ATX) with 8GB Corsair Vengeance 1600, i think my GPU is still decent enough for my needs.

I'd like to get an SSD although that depends on the budget, was thinking about the Adata S510 120GB.

Any thoughts or improvements? i'm happy to consider AMD as well, i'm not planning to overclock so something with a decent baseline speed is preferable.

Thanks!

mickyflinn · 7 Jul 2012 at 15:05

You live in barnet but you want to spec in us dollars, will you be purchasing in the uk or usa?

chimaera · 7 Jul 2012 at 15:36

mickyflinn said:
You live in barnet but you want to spec in us dollars, will you be purchasing in the uk or usa?

Shows how long it's been since i've made a post, now live in Texas! better change my profile.

I appreciate buying in the US makes it a little trickier so i'm happy to use ballpark figures, i think in UK terms it'll be around £400 (to cover CPU, mobo, RAM and possibly SSD).

Jony27 · 7 Jul 2012 at 15:41

it would be hard to spec you with uk prices, since US sites have rebates.
wonder if the mods allow using newegg prices since its a US based company/website?

chimaera · 7 Jul 2012 at 15:55

Jony27 said:
it would be hard to spec you with uk prices, since US sites have rebates.
wonder if the mods allow using newegg prices since its a US based company/website?

I've found that since the IB and Z77 mobos are pretty new there aren't really any rebates to be found on those. I think a £400-450 budget would be about right.

Also i'm not too concerned with exact pricing, more the best options at the moment, e.g. should i get a 3450 and Z77 or get a 3570 for the higher speed but with a cheaper H77 as i don't need to overclock?

olivier renault · 7 Jul 2012 at 17:21

The Z77 boards are only slightly more expensive. So I'd go with a Z77-D3H.

'You never know'.

Unless you get a decent rebate (like, £10, which would make £15 difference or there about).